could someone explain this please

[doobry]

argh, damn waterfall, my pond 110g 6ft by 4ft is losing water lots of water, since i added the fall to my pond,
in just 2 weeks its dropped below the first shelve which is approx 5 " down,
below the full water, line and dropping still,can this be caused by splashing on rocks and evaporation
at the rate im losing water ill have a dry hole in the ground in a month,
i dont want to be topping it up every few days or is this the norm?
it was fine until i added the waterfall and pump,there was no noticable drop in water levels in the pond by itself
the concrete ground around the wf in it which i built on is bone dry and so is the filter in the shed
we did get a glourious week or more of lovely sunshine recently and i expected some evaporation but nothing like this rate

 

[poconojoe]

That is not normal. Do you have a liner under your falls?
When I built my falls, I shaped the base of the falls (soil with underlayment and liner) in a curved concave and sloped shape that guaranteed any water to go nowhere except back into the pond. Then I placed all the stones of the finished product on top of that. I did form some shelves in the soil underneath that would support the stones.
It's hard to explain so I hope this make sense.
Any water that gets between, around or under the stones can only return back to the pond.
It's like any other project you encounter...the base or preparation is the key to success.
Once I had a leak under those stones, but that was because I used a cheap PVC liner. I only use EPDM now.
So if all your piping and filtration is sound, the water may be escaping from the falls itself.

 

[poconojoe]

Oh, and by the way, your falls looks very nice! Great job...now find that leak!
Unfortunately, I've found that building a falls is not a one time affair. I've redone mine a few times to get it just right. So, I guess what I'm saying is you might have to start taking things apart to find out what is going wrong.
Good luck and let us know how you make out.

 

[Jhn]

Is the water fall just resting at the edge of the pond, or as poconojoe asked is there a liner under it or is it a pre fabbed waterfall. If not a liner it is probably running underneath your bottom waterfall rocks where they overhang the pond and leaking out that way.

 

[bagsmom]

Waterfalls make pond people crazy until we get them just right! I am guessing you have to tweak it a little to be sure there isn't a wrinkle or a fold in the liner, causing water to sneak out. That happened to me when I first built my pond. It looks beautiful, though!

 

[Sparky]

Make sure any folds aren’t wicking water out. Took me a while to figure that one out.

 

[mgmine]

A lot of water can splash out. Try laying some newspaper on the sides and see how wet it is getting and how fast it is getting wet. That will give you an idea of how much is splashing out. How high did you make the sides of the liner? It is possible that water is running out along the edge. Even if only one spot is low the water can get out. Also, there may be a rock that is diverting some of the water over the side.

 

[doobry]

i turned off the pump today and on restarting it this leak sprung up

also the top side rim of the pond has collapsed under the weight of the waterfall the arrow shows the new leak
and the small red line indicates the top rim( collapse) compared to the long red line which was the original level

 

[poconojoe]

You say you restarted the pump and "this leak sprung up". Are you referring to the left side of the picture?
Not sure what you mean. Do you mean the leak stopped when the pump was off? If this is true then the problem is either in the plumbing or the falls itself.
If the water is flowing into the pond, I wouldn't call it a "leak". Now, if there's no liner under that part and the water is exiting the pond, then yes, that's a leak.
As I stated previously, if your liner is pitched correctly and completely under all of the waterfall rocks, the water can only return into the pond. If the water is getting in-between the rocks and spilling out in an undesirable location, it still can only return to the pond.
The liner is what guides the water toward the pond, not the waterfall rocks. The rocks just cover the liner and make it look nice.

 

[bagsmom]

Have you been able to see where it's coming out? When I had my issue around the waterfall, I found an area of wet dirt. That might help you figure out where the problem is.

 

[doobry]

the leak i found (yellow) is flowing over the lining and onto the pond edging rocks

 

[poconojoe]

Then you need to lift the liner and create a berm of soil or smooth rocks under it as to guide any water into the pond instead of over the liner. Essentially raising the edge of the liner so the water can't go over it.